Mycobacterium leprae in India

Introduction

Contents

   * 1 Introduction
           1.1 Classification
           1.2 General
           1.3 History
   * 2 Description of Mycobacterium leprae
           2.1 Genome
           2.2 Transmission
           2.3 Symptoms
           2.4 Prevention
           2.5 Treatment
   * 3 Why is this disease a problem in India
   * 4 Leprosy in Present Day
   * 5 References

Introduction

1.1 Classification
Bacteria Actinobacteria Actinomycetales Corynebacterineae Mycobacteriaceae Mycobacterium leprae

1.2 General
Mycobacterium leprae causes the chronic infectious disease called leprosy also known as Hansen's disease named after Gerhard Henrik Armauer Hansen (29 July 1841 – 12 February 1912) a Norwegian physician, who was the first to identify it in 1873 as the causative agent of leprosy. (2) M. leprae is a gram-positive rod-shaped, acid-fast bacillus. The disease mainly affects the skin, the peripheral nerves, mucosa of the upper respiratory tract and also the eyes, apart from some other structures. (3)

1.3 History
Leprosy in India dates as far back as the second millennium B.C. Recent findings of a male skeleton, after being tested for age, shows that the skeleton is from 2000 B.C. The skeleton shows symptoms of leprosy including degenerative joint disease and injury to the peripheral skeleton. This skeleton is the oldest evidence of leprosy in India. (Robbins)

Olden India categorized two types of leprosy: anaesthetic and tuberculated. Lepra anaesthetica is a more rare form of the two. It alters cutaneous nerves of body parts. Lepra tuberculosa is the general form of leprosy. It deteriorates the skin and tissues of the body. (7) Symptoms described from olden India perfectly match what are the current symptoms of Kushtha (leprosy in Indian) today. The disease has been known to exist in India for, at the very minimum, three thousand years. (11) About twenty persons out of ten thousand had this disease. (7) Some cases of leprosy have extremities in terms of duration, how long the disease affects the patient. The shortest duration in a case has been one year, and the longest duration has been up to forty years. (54)

Leprosy seemed to be especially prevalent in the district of Kumaun in the late 1800’s. (23) In a statistical study, the disease was more prominent in the eastern side of the district rather than the western side. (26) Research showed that there would not be an increase in leprosy of the population of Kumaun, as long as the disease was hereditary. (71)

In a 1852 census, for every four males that had leprosy, only one female had leprosy. In the previous census, the ratio for males to females with leprosy was almost ten to one. For some reason, the leprosy ratio decreased rapidly. (25) However, with more recent studies, it seems that leprosy has been affecting females more than males (53). For ages 20-30, the percentage of males diseased is 20.0% whereas for females the percentage is 26.4% (53).

Description of Mycobacterium leprae

2.1 Genome
The complete sequence is 3,268,203 bp in length with a G+C content of 57.8%, and was generated from a combination of cosmid and 6-fold whole-genome shotgun sequencing. The start of the sequence is the first base of the dnaA gene, close to the origin of replication. There are 1,604 protein-coding genes and 1,116 pseudogenes. Both the sequence and annotation have been deposited in the public databases (NCBI) with the accession number AL450380.http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/nuccore/30407142 The Sanger Institute sequenced Mycobacterium leprae in collaboration with the laboratory of Stewart Cole at the Unit de Genetique Moleculaire Bacterienne, Institut Pasteu. Sequencing was funded by the Heiser Program for Research in Leprosy and Tuberculosis of The New York Community Trust, L'Association Raoul Follereau, The Wellcome Trust, ILEP, and the Institut Pasteur.

Include a link if there is an existing microbewiki page. Ex. Salmonella typhi Transmission of disease

How is it transmitted? Is there a vector (animal/insect)? Prevention Why is this disease a problem in [name of country]

Do lifestyle/environment/economics/political issues play a role? What is being done to address this problem

Include anything being done by the local government or groups as well as efforts by non-local groups. What else could be done to address this problem

Are there solutions that could be successful but haven't been implemented due to political or economic reasons? Are there successful efforts in other countries? Are there reasons why these efforts may or may not be successful in the country you've focused on? etc. etc. References

[Sample reference] Takai, K., Sugai, A., Itoh, T., and Horikoshi, K. "Palaeococcus ferrophilus gen. nov., sp. nov., a barophilic, hyperthermophilic archaeon from a deep-sea hydrothermal vent chimney". International Journal of Systematic and Evolutionary Microbiology. 2000. Volume 50. p. 489-500.

Edited by [Katherine Tang, Victor Tran, Natalie Nguyen, Julia Chu, Millie (Mei) Liu, Jason Wang], students of Rachel Larsen